The gourmet ice pop trend continues with a new book, People's Pops, by Nathalie Jordi, David Carrell, and Joel Horowitz (the team behind the New York City pop business of the same name), due out this June.

People's Pops follows on the heels of last summer's Paletas (also published by Ten Speed Press) with 55 recipes for pops and shave ice arranged seasonally and by ingredient, from spring (think rhubarb and elderflower or cucumber and violet) to autumn (cranberry and apple or pumpkin pie with whipped cream).

The recipes are interspersed with mouthwatering ice pop porn and tips on everything from how to make and serve the pops to starting your own pop business if you are so inspired.

Just in time for Halloween, there's a new warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) about the dangers of black licorice. If you’re 40 or older, eating two ounces of black licorice a day for at least two weeks could cause an irregular heart rhythm or arrhythmia.

Another ice pop post? The frozen treats seem to be turning up everywhere this summer, and, yes, here's one more pop paen.

The edible appeal of ice pops is obvious, but they're also easy to make. Unlike homemade ice cream, you don't need to keep an ice cream machine insert pre-freezing in the freezer, and (for most recipes) you don't even need to pre-chill the base. This is expecially true of fruit pops. Except for the freezing time, they're an almost spontaneous treat.

I've been making a number of fantastic ice pop recipes from Fany Gerson's Paletas, including lime-infused watermelon pops, blackberry pops, and almond-enriched Mexican chocolate pops.

With cocoa prices spiking, food manufacturers are coming up with solutions like "micro-size" chocolate drops that deliver "chocolateness" with less chocolate content in goods like muffins and baked foods.